I Quess You Can't Please Everyone.... (Infamy)

[Da Black Gobo]

I think this game is great, there are a lot of subtle strategies in this game, that are not so apparent. Some are the 3 ways to gain Research cards, keeping a eye on the number of stomped tokens in play, knowing when to beef up your monster, when it is in your interest to work with other players to take down a monster, and when to put the hammer down with a certain damning card such as Buget Cuts. The biggest thing to help the monsters are mutations and Infamy. Mutations are a must, and the best way to gain them is to move around the board visiting each site once. The second best thing is Infamy, and this is the area that will win you the game in a Monster Challenge, and for some players the area they seem most displeased about.

A monster can have upto 15 Tokens, and thus win big on the first round of a challenge if able to use them first. Mind you, I found the best method to stop the Infamy problem is taking down other monsters and sending them to Hollywood, but other players need to remember they need to work together against a player gaining too much infamy.

Still I find some I play against hating the way Infamy works. To Please them, I made a adjustment to Infamy during a Monster Challenge. During the MC, Infamy instead of adding a extra attack, adds +1 to each token used to increase the to hit.

Example you monster attacks with 3 dice against a strenght 4 monster, you roll 3 dice and get a 3,2,5. You could spend a total of 3 Infamy tokens to make the two misses hits. IT is a little more subtle and keeps those first round knockout from taking place. What do you think??

Other ways you might want to play a game is to make the military more powerful. I have two methods that work well. First to allow the Military units to battle first. Second, when a monster goes to Hollywood, the monster not only loses his infamy, but also his trophies.

Sean

[TrimChris]

Still I find some I play against hating the way Infamy works. To Please them, I made a adjustment to Infamy during a Monster Challenge. During the MC, Infamy instead of adding a extra attack, adds +1 to each token used to increase the to hit.

Example you monster attacks with 3 dice against a strenght 4 monster, you roll 3 dice and get a 3,2,5. You could spend a total of 3 Infamy tokens to make the two misses hits. IT is a little more subtle and keeps those first round knockout from taking place. What do you think??

Sean

3 tokens to convert 2 misses to hits? Rolling extra dice would have just been another 1.5 hits. Pretty much an equivalent.

[Da Black Gobo]

3 tokens to convert 2 misses to hits? Rolling extra dice would have just been another 1.5 hits. Pretty much an equivalent.

Under the rules if you had 15 infamy and were the challenger and had first attack during the monster challenge, you could make 18 attacks the first round. In some cases that would cause enough damage to make a easy victory. The change I suggested would have only 3 attacks with misses being converted to hits with the Infamy tokens.

Sean

[holywolfman]

I was Megaclaw one time....and had NO mutations (I know...I couldn't believe it)-and just a few Infamy counters...and I WON the Challenge!- :D I guess just good "dice" rolling!

[TrimChris]

Under the rules if you had 15 infamy and were the challenger and had first attack during the monster challenge, you could make 18 attacks the first round. In some cases that would cause enough damage to make a easy victory. The change I suggested would have only 3 attacks with misses being converted to hits with the Infamy tokens.

Sean

Ok, there is that.

I haven't played enough yet to say that the current Infamy system is broken. In theory if the challenger uses all their tokens to blow the first combant away then they may be in trouble for the next two challenges (assuming a 4 player game).

I'll track some results and see how it goes.

So far I've seen the last monster brought into the final fight win.

[Porkins]

So, to clarify, do you have to declare at the beginning of your turn how many Infamy tokens you are going to use, or can you just keep adding them in as you go?
For instance: "Ok, I attack with my three attacks. And now I will add two infamy attacks. Now I will add two more infamy attacks. Now your turn."

[Keldar]

So, to clarify, do you have to declare at the beginning of your turn how many Infamy tokens you are going to use, or can you just keep adding them in as you go?
For instance: "Ok, I attack with my three attacks. And now I will add two infamy attacks. Now I will add two more infamy attacks. Now your turn."

You do not have to declare how many before the round. You decide as you go.

[Keldar]

First to allow the Military units to battle first.

To make things more logical, I let whoever is attacking, go first. Whether it be monster or military, the attacker has the element of surprise in my world.

[Da Black Gobo]

Just to clarify, as written in the rule book INFAMY gives you a extra attack per infamy token used. You decide how many you wish to use.

I was suggesting in the Monster Challenge that INFAMY works differently. Each monster would only have thier normal number of attacks, infamy would add +1 to the dice that missed hitting. So, if you needed a 4 or better to hit your opponent's monster and rolled a 4, 3, 2 on your attacks, you could spend 3 infamy tokens to make the 2 misses become hits.

[mk31bolo]

Seems to me that if you blow 15 infamy markers in one round/combat, then the next monster in line is gonna clean your clock. This is a dangerous tactic unless you're playing a two player game. In that case, it's pretty much instant win even if giant military units are involved. (The GMU's don't seem to accomplish much in the games I've played. They don't have the hit points to last more than one combat as a rule and Capt. Collosal doesn't often last the first round. They're more a distraction that lets your supporting units actually get a shot in before being smashed. Never send GMU's into combat without support!)

How about this for a house rule?

When a monster uses an infamy counter in challenge combat the other monster may use one to block it. The descision to block must be made before the dice are rolled. This will prevent the "steamroller" effect of an 18 attack round, but will also casue a kind of "infamy arms race" during normal play. On the other hand, those going for infamy aren't getting as many hitpoints, making them vulnerable to military units (and thus using infamy just to survive).

[Da Black Gobo]

If say you have the max of tokens you would take out the most dangerous monster first with your infamy overkill 1st round if possible. Then with the added weight of the win, you should be able to handle the next round. Now in a four player game, this could be dangerous, but it works well in a 2 or 3 player game.

Sean